23K schools to remain without principals as 2027 budget omits funding – EDCOM 2

Sam Benedicto

Around 23,000 public schools nationwide will continue to operate without formally appointed principals next year, as the proposed 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP) includes no funding for new school principal positions, according to the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2).

Data presented during a Senate budget hearing on October 16 showed that only about 22,000 of the country’s 45,928 public schools have plantilla positions for principals.

EDCOM 2 also flagged gaps in the implementation of DepEd Order No. 77, s. 2010, noting that 13,313 schools currently lack both  a principal and a head teacher.

Among these schools, 3,038 have 9 to 24 teachers, while 727 have more than 25 teachers. Both groups lack a principal and a head teacher.

“It is imperative that the 2027 budget considers this large shortfall, even prioritizing our 13,313 schools without either a school principal or even head teacher,” EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee said in a statement.

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian criticized the omission, noting that none of the 23,000 schools without principals would receive new allocations under the proposed spending plan.

“And next year this is the problem – there is no budget for creation of new school principal positions. None of the 23,000 [schools] that lack principals is budgeted,” Gatchalian said during the hearing.

The omission comes despite the Department of Education (DepEd) having previously requested P10.5 billion to create more than 14,000 Principal I positions for fiscal year 2027.

Although DepEd secured the creation of 6,000 additional Principal I positions for 2026, only around 2,000 had been filled as of the report’s publication, while another 914 teachers-in-charge had been reclassified into formal principal plantilla positions.

DepEd Undersecretary Wilfredo Cabral said the agency would instead use the P12.09 billion allocation under the Expanded Career Progression framework to reclassify eligible head teachers and teachers-in-charge to higher positions.

“As we confront our learning crisis, our schools require strong leadership by able and properly assigned school principals,” EDCOM Executive Director Yee said.

EDCOM 2 urged DepEd to review its 2010 staffing guidelines and strengthen monitoring and accountability across schools to address inconsistencies in principal assignments.